The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk What to do with a 1935 GM Canada 16-48

My husband and I moved to a ranch on the Cariboo Plateau in B.C. (Canada) almost 9 years ago. Previous owners had left a 1935 GMC of Canada 16-48 dual rear-wheeled truck on the property. It's been sitting in a corner of the hay field in the elements since then (and for unknown decades prior to then) and although we enjoy seeing it there, it seems like a waste. Is such a vehicle likely to be of interest to people who restore old cars/trucks? As we are trying to finance some repairs on the property, we'd like to get something for it but don't know what an unrestored truck of that age would go for. We don't even know if the shape it's in would make it a potential restoration project, or just a source of parts? Any suggestions would be helpful.

I'm attaching a link to some photos to give you an idea of the shape it's in. Any information would be appreciated.

[img]https://gilbertroyhorsemanship.com/articles-by-r-e-donald/1935-gmc-canada-truck/[/img]

Your post is within our rules at this time. Should any discussion begin offering the truck or parts for sale, your post will be deleted. Any selling must be done in the Swap Meet Forum. Hopefully someone can give you the information you seek.

Thank you. I'm just looking for information here.

Interesting to see how nice the grille appears to be or is that something someone made?

Can’t tell if it is some kind of winter front or just solid bars?

Ed

No idea. Here's a 1935 Maple Leaf with, it seems to my untrained eye, a similar but not identical type grille, if that helps.

https://mystarcollectorcar.com/july...-truck-is-a-rare-canuck-beast-of-burden/

I think you need to go to www.icbc.com and see what the requirements are for titling, insurance and registration. You would need to prove ownership before you even think of restoration or spending money. To be safe, I would edit-out the serial & engine number on the photo that shows the VIN tag. Big truck parts are very hard to find sometimes and among owners, there can be a sharing of resources and parts towards mutual benefit. Salvage if possible. Avoid modification that cannot be reversed.

Most likely the truck has had major problems and was parked. Parts have been removed from the engine, exposing it to the weather, so there may be rust internally. There are parts and emblems removed from the body. Restoration would be difficult. Labor costs are high.

Use as a farm truck is a possibility. Anything goes. If you are gifted mechanically you can find most anything running, most likely wrecked and swap over parts to make your truck a runner. Function over appearance.

You can also reposition the truck, jack it up and put on blocks. Add a sign saying welcome to our home. It would make a nice flower garden.

I googled 1935 Canadian truck grills and saw a lot of different ones but I can't post the link.

You must be using a search engine that is being blocked/banned this year?

G o o g l e or W e b s e a r c h or D u c k D u c k Go (all of them track your searches and sell that information)

Members who are interested in your search results can of course copy and paste those words into whatever search engine they are using.

Thanks, Ron

To get back on topic...

The OP's truck looks like an ambitious (in the extreme ...) restoration project...

For me, if I had access to such a truck, I think it would be great fun, as well as historically ... relevant (?) to make a period correct doodlebug out of it. Forget all the titling and registration hassles -- do what the old timers did and turn it into a tractor. Search around our site and you'll find lots of background and history on doodlebugs/struggle buggies/etc. But in short, After World War 2, it was hard, for a while, to find tractors, so handy farmers took their worn out pre-war farm trucks (um, like yours) and made them into tractors. And they had a whole second life.

It would save the essence and the charm of the truck (grille, hood, cowl, steering wheel) without the hassle of a very time consuming and expensive restoration. Best is if you can get that engine running (we have a Tech Tip for that ). Original chassis (cut down), original front sheet metal ... putt putt around the farm ... it would be tres cool as they say en Quebec.

Just a thought.

BTW, I did a web search on DuckDuckGo (which neither tracks nor sells your data) for "doodlebug tractors" and got back a lot of cool pictures.

Modifying it to look like a bygone tractor is fine if you plan on using it as a tractor, otherwise it has no purpose.
Bringing an old Stovebolt engine back to a half way running condition depends on luck.
The engine forum is full of hard luck stories of worn and broken parts.
Rebuilding one is more expensive than a modern V8 crate rebuild.
You also have other parts issues. For example the brakes, especially the big truck drums, that are hard to find in good condition.
In the long run it would be cheaper to buy a used Kubota.

Why not showcase it as part of a fixed outdoor grill or barbeque.
The picture is an idea only. Rework the woodwork a little but retain the rustic look.

Thanks to you all for looking at it and for your suggestions. We may end up leaving it right where it is for whoever buys this property when we decide to move.

Looks like an authentic rat rod to me.

The engine looks like a Chevrolet 207.
If it was mine, I would consider moving it to a more prominent place and present it as yard art.